Historian Helena P. Schrader discusses ancient Spartan society and culture, seeking to rectify a number of common misconceptions. She also provides excerpts from her biographical novels about Leonidas and reviews of books on ancient Sparta. For more, visit her website at: http://spartareconsidered.com

Ancient Hoplites

Sunday, July 31, 2016

No
myth about Sparta is as persistent or controversial as the claim
that pederasty and homosexuality dominated Spartan society.
Even highly reputable historians such as Paul Cartledge subscribe to
this theory. However, the evidence against it is far more more compelling than for it.

Achilles and Patrokles - Ancient Lovers

Xenophon, the only historian with firsthand experience of the agoge
(his sons attended it!), states explicitly: "… [Lycurgus]
… laid down that in Sparta lovers should refrain from
molesting boys, just as much as parents avoid having intercourse with
their children or brothers with their sisters." It is hard to
find a more definitive statement than this, and from the most credible
source. To dismiss this evidence simply because it does not
suit preconceived ideas is arrogant.

Xenophon adds: "It does not surprise me, however, that some people do
not believe this, since in many cities the laws do not oppose lusting
after boys." This is the crux of the matter. All of
our written sources on Sparta come from these other cities, where
pederasty was rampant. In short, the bulk of the written
record on Sparta stems from men who could not imagine a world without homosexual love and pederasty. But then, they also could not imagine women who were educated,
physically fit, and economically powerful, who were not also licentious
and lewd. Modern readers ought to recognize that pederasty is not inherent in society –
particularly not in a society where women are well integrated.

This image shows the peplos, still worn by Spartan women but considered lewd by Athenians; Spartan women allegedly also learned to use the bow.

My position is supported by another ancient authority, Aristotle, who
blamed all of Sparta's ills on the fact that the women were in control
of things – a fact that he attributed to the lack of
homosexuality in Spartan society generally. In this Aristotle exhibits
an astonishing appreciation of psychology. Modern research
conclusively shows that male victims of child abuse generally grow into
misogynous men. The status of women in Athens fits this
pattern perfectly, while the status of women in Sparta completely
contradicts – indeed, refutes – the thesis that
Spartan men were systematically subjected to sexual abuse by their
elders as children. (An excellent discussion of child abuse in ancient
Greece can be found in Enid Bloch's "Sex Between Men and Boys
in Classical Greece: Was it Education for Citizenship or Child Abuse?,"
in Journal of
Men's Studies, January 2001.)

Finally, Herodotus, who was always happy to provide some juicy little
story about a man who covets a close friend's wife, or one who steals a
rival's bride just before the wedding,has not a single tale in which
there is mention of a Spartan with a male lover – either boy
or man. This omission is significant and should not be
ignored.

The archaeological evidence from Sparta likewise demonstrates an almost
complete absence of pornographic images on artifacts.
This is in sharp contrast to the plethora of explicitly pornographic
art from both Athens and Corinth. While pederasty is as
frequently depicted in Athenian and Corinthian art as heterosexual sex,
no homoerotic art originating in Sparta has -- to my knowledge -- been found or
identified. (Please correct me, if I am wrong!)

On the other hand, some of the most important and lovely pieces of
Spartan sculpture depict couples sitting side by side.
Regardless of whom the figures were intended to depict (Helen
and Menelaos, Chilon and his wife, a Spartan king and his queen), what
is significant is the greater importance given to depictions of a man
and wife sitting side by side – that is, in partnership
– compared to depictions of sexual intercourse.
This is because marriage in Sparta was a partnership, not a tyranny as
in the rest of Greece. Nor was a Spartan marriage merely for
reproduction, it was also consciously intended to bring sexual
satisfaction to both partners. Xenophon explains that Spartan laws
required men and women to marry in their physical prime and not when
too young (for girls) or too old (for men), and that they should be
initially restricted in their sexual contact so as to not to become
satiated, but rather to enjoy
sex together. Note that there is explicit emphasis on the
desirability of the female
partner enjoying sex as much as the male.

Thus, rather than being something frightful and dangerous that male
relatives needed to vigilantly guard (as in the rest of Greece), female
sexuality was perceived in Sparta as a positive factor that contributed
to a good marriage, to healthy children, and so to the well-being of
the state.

This acceptance of women's sexuality is further underlined by the fact
that while Athenian plays demean and insult women (see any of
Euripides' plays), the poems of Alkman, considered the most Spartan of
all poets by the ancient Greeks, openly admire women. His
poems, written in the second half of the 7th century BC, were the
lyrics of songs performed at public festivals by girls' choruses.
Alkman also wrote poetry expressing his own adoration of the Spartan
girls he worked with. He was considered by ancient scholars
to be the first love poet – a notable distinction for the
poet whom the ancients viewed as "the most Spartan"! None of
Alkman's texts can be classed as pornographic, but many
modern commentators assert – because the texts of the lyrics,
designed to be sung by girls' choruses, praise the girls' beauty
– that the songs were lesbian in nature. This is
nonsense. Boys' and men's choruses sang about
bravery and girls about beauty because those were the virtues admired
in each respective group. What the texts (and the
fact that Alkman was so revered in Sparta) tell us is that
the Spartans enjoyed light-hearted music and tributes to female beauty
in a public context -- not merely in the back alleys of the
red-light district.

Furthermore, while female sexuality was recognized and respected,
Spartan males were expected to find sexual satisfaction within
marriage. Thus Sparta was reputed to have no brothels at all
within the city limits, and Spartans claimed to know neither whores nor
adultery. To date, the archaeological evidence supports the
assertion that there were no brothels in Sparta, and the absence of
heterosexual (as with homosexual) pornographic artwork further
supports the thesis that in contrast to other cities, sex in Sparta was
a private – rather than a public – affair.

Given the fact that Spartan sexuality was so different from that of the
other Greeks, it is not surprising that foreign observers of Sparta in
the archaic and classical periods have a great deal to say about
Spartan sexual relations. The fact that the most famous
adulteress of ancient myth, Helen of Troy, was Spartan contributed to
the general view of Spartan women as licentious, a view explicitly
underlined by Aristotle in his diatribe against Spartan women.
The legal right to "wife sharing" further influenced the view
of women as sexually uncontrolled – even though the law was
clearly designed to serve the state's need for new generations of
citizens, not women's lust, and could only occur with the
husband's consent. Likewise, the fact that Spartan
women were educated, outspoken, and seen in public elicited universal condemnation from other Greeks. Thus Euripides says in Andromache:
"Spartan girls could not be chaste even if they wanted to. They leave
home, and with naked thighs and their dresses loosened, they share the
running tracks and gymnasiums with the young men." It was
inconceivable to an Athenian that a woman could go to school with boys
and engage in sports in front of boys without becoming sexually
degraded as well. Modern readers, however, should not lose
sight of the fact that Athenian playwrights were attacking their enemy
when they described Spartans. Describing the wives of an enemy as
whores and the men as "faggots" was (and still is) a common –
if juvenile – means of belittling a foe.

In conclusion, contemporary sources suggest that Sparta was not a
particularly homoerotic society, and certainly there was no
institutionalized pederasty or homosexual behavior prior to the
mid-5th century BC. On the contrary, in Sparta women's
sexuality was not only recognized, but respected and to a degree
encouraged. Spartan artifacts furthermore suggest that Sparta
was indeed more prudish than other Greek societies. The
evidence suggests that sex in Sparta was a private matter, sought
inside marriage, rather than public entertainment pursued at symposia
and on the streets as in Athens. The Spartan ideal of sex was an
activity between equals, not an act of domination by an adult male upon
a child, a slave, or an illiterate and powerless wife. My depiction of Spartan society in the Leonidas trilogy is based on the above analysis. Pederasty plays no role in the agoge.

8 comments:

Paul Cartledge writes about about "institutionalised pederasty" at Sparta. He seems to discount these primary sources that refute such a claim. Which is why I've always discounted Paul Cartledge's claims.

The so-called "Spartan Mirage" seems to be a very selective tool in the hands of historians. It is the same with the repeated claims about throwing disabled infants off a certain cliff -- never-mind that one of Sparta's most famous kings was lame; and no infant-remains were ever found during investigations at the alleged site.

The investigators did find the remains of adults, presumably criminals. Yet you still see the same old nonsense about killing babies. Many ancient societies practiced exposure of unwanted infants, but it is a stretch to link this to state sponsored eugenics.

Thus historians seem to pick and choose what the "Spartan Mirage" actually conceals. Baby-killing and child molestation are accepted as fact and not anti-Spartan distortions; yet the notion of the self-controlled warrior philosopher is dismissed as an idealised concept created by Socrates (see Lipka).

Who would dare suggest the more reasonable notion that Socrates was inspired by a realised Sparta ;)

Ray, Thank you for your comment. I share your bafflement with the academic establishment. There is so much written by allegedly "noted" historians that is illogical and unfounded. I'll post an entry on the alleged "infanticide" of the Spartans later which reminds people that the slaughter of female infants was normal in Athens. I hate the hypocracy! Its alright to "expose" females infants just because they're female but a crime against humanity to kill deformed males! Again, thanks for stopping by.Helena

Hi Helena, I wanted to thank you for bringing this to my attention several years ago. Before I just accepted the "Spartans were gay" thing. Checking it out it's astounding how just about all sources explains, often in great detail, why Sparta didn't care for homosexual or pederastic relations. Would you know what exactly Cartledge bases his claims on?I read a google excerpt out of his book, where he dismisses Aristotle with that. - Sure adult homosexuality wasn't acceptable but that doesn't mean they didn't have sex with boys. Yet he doesn't even try to reconcile this with Aristotle's explanation. That the unusual empowerment of Spartan women is due to the men having to turn to them for sex. If boys are an acceptable sexual outlet as Cartledge suggest how does Aristotle make any sense?

I haven't read Cartledge recently, so I can't say for sure. What I remember is exactly what you say: he dismissed any suggestion that the Spartans were pedophiles with a contemptuous "of course they were and you'd be an idiot to think otherwise" but no serious argument that greatly infuriated me. He seemed to be saying: "This is what I think and I'm the expert so no one has the right to question, much less disagree with. me. I AM THE EXPERT. PERIOD." It did not make me respect hm.

Possibly -- in 850 AD or whenever Lycurgus lived. The point is, when pederasty was rampant and normal in the rest of the Greek world, Sparta had already moved far beyond -- for three hundred years or more. It was, quite simply, three to four hundred years more advanced than the rest of the Greek cities. It was more civilized and less perverse.